by Zachary Knecht
Featured Image: Photo by Weber State Athletics
Eastern Washington Weber State Preview
The Weber State Wildcats look to snap their 12-game losing streak at home against the Eastern Washington Eagles Saturday. After a disappointing loss on Thursday, the ‘Cats will aim to get back on the right track in their second game of the homestand.
Weber State enters the Dee Events Center at 4-16, craving their first win in conference play after dropping their first eight; Eastern Washington comes in with a 12-6 overall record, sitting at 5-3 in the conference.
Who to Watch
Look for Daryn Hickock and Jadyn Matthews to have bounce-back games Saturday. It has not been often this season when both stars have fallen short of expectations, but they were both contained against Idaho. Although they both exceeded double-digit point totals, Hickok and Matthews couldn’t put anything together from the field, combining for 8-24 on shooting.
Another player for the ‘Cats to look for is Ava Williams. The senior guard hasn’t produced world-crushing stats this season but had a breakout game in their last contest with 14 points. Weber State’s issue on offense this year has been a lack of depth, so another potential scoring option can do this team wonders.
Eastern Washington has the opposite problem as Weber State. For the Eagles, there are almost too many scoring options to go around, so there are a lot of players to watch. Anyone on this starting roster can produce double-digit points at any given time, and they disperse the ball well on the floor. But for the Eagles, look for the performances of Jaydia Martin and Jacinta Buckley.
Martin is the leading scorer on the roster, producing 15.8 PPG on 41.5% shooting from the field and 37.2% from beyond the arch. She is the general of this offense with a lot of supporting hands. Buckley is the team’s best rebounder, grabbing 7.3 per contest. These two teams are even rebounding, so she will need to pave the way for a successful night.
Bounce-Back Performance
The Eagles utterly dominate the Wildcats in every statistical category outside of rebounding, but the main focus for the ‘Cats needs to be finding their flow on offense, especially shooting from three. Weber State shot 7.1% from beyond the arch, which would’ve been 0% excluding a full-court bomb. This won’t do on Saturday against a defense like Eastern Washington.
While their defense only ranks sixth in the Big Sky, they only allow 64.8 PPG behind an explosive offense that ranks second in the conference. Weber State on the other hand ranks in the bottom half on either side of the ball, ninth on offense (59.2 PPG) and seventh on defense (68.0 PPG). They are playing out of their weight class against a team competing for the top spot in the Big Sky, but they still need to come to play and attempt to snap their losing streak.
Game Time
The Wildcats will await the Eagles at the Dee Events Center at 1 pm MST for another conference showdown.
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